Surviving Spouse

03/21/2019

If you decide you don’t need your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to fund your retirement, you have some options to fit it into your estate plan. However, beware the potential complications, according to the Oakdale Leader in “Leaving An IRA As An Inheritance.”

If no beneficiary is named to the IRA, things can get complicated for both the estate and the heirs. If the IRA has a named beneficiary, but the will names someone else to receive the IRA, the beneficiary named in the IRA is the one who receives the asset. The named beneficiary in any account and especially an IRA, supersedes the will, in almost every instance.

Anytime there is a significant event, often called a “trigger” event, like a divorce, marriage or birth, the estate plan and all accounts with named beneficiaries should be reviewed. This is to ensure that the assets go where the owner wants them, and not to an unintended heir, like an ex-spouse.

There are special rules for spouses, where IRAs are concerned. Married couples typically name each other as beneficiaries on their IRAs. A surviving spouse has certain decisions to make, when inheriting an IRA. The IRA may be rolled over into a new or existing IRA in the spouse’s own name. Taking this route depends upon the age of the spouse and the need for the money.

Another option is to convert the inherited traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. However, taxes must be paid on the conversion. An estate planning attorney will be able to explain all the options and how they will work with the surviving spouse’s estate plan.

To maximize the growth of the IRA, children or grandchildren can be named as IRA beneficiaries. They will need to start taking annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) immediately, and the distributions will be taxable. However, the amount of the RMD will be based on their anticipated lifetimes, so the taxable distributions will be relatively small. The money in the account will have many years to grow.

When children or grandchildren are named as contingent beneficiaries, a surviving spouse has the option to disclaim the IRA, which allows the children or grandchildren to inherit the IRA and enjoy the tax-free years of growth.

Our office counsels against naming an estate as a beneficiary, because it helps avoid probate and strict distribution time limits.

An estate planning attorney can advise you in creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances and may include an IRA.

The article is based on a Merrill Lynch and Age Wave study revealing that only 14% of 3,300 respondents were making financial decisions on their own, before their spouses passed away.

Widows are tackling major challenges in the days and weeks after the loss of a loved one. That includes everything from funeral costs, mortgage or rent payments, other costs of running a household and for many, medical costs. With nearly half of those in the study reporting a household income drop of 50% or more after the death of a spouse, that is an enormous burden to take on during a time of great grief and upheaval.

The women are also facing the tasks of juggling Social Security, pensions, life insurance and making sure that their late spouse’s retirement accounts are all correctly transferred into their names.

There is often a lack of preparation for this situation. Many are simply not prepared for how complicated it is to deal with the loss of a spouse.

The study reports that couples who plan for this situation, have their level of worry cut in half. Only 38% of the widows in the study who had conducted financial planning, worried about not being able to support themselves immediately after the death of their spouse. That compares to 64% of widows who had not planned at all.

Widowers, men whose wives have passed, face unique challenges. If their wives pass first, they may be faced with taking on their own caregiving. Statistically, women outlive men, so the widowers have to adjust to losing a caregiver. There may be new financial costs they would not have had to bear, if their wives were still alive.

The first step: meet with an estate planning attorney. Make sure that a will, trust and power of attorney are created, along with any other necessary planning documents. Both spouses should be familiar with all accounts, and both names should be on the accounts and all deeds. Don’t forget to organize all important papers in a file drawer at home or in a safe deposit box. Know where everything is and how to access it.

11/01/2018

It’s not always an easy situation when a spouse moves into the home of their spouse when they marry. Would the surviving spouse receive the home when the other dies? Does the home go to children from a previous marriage or previous arrangement? A good estate plan can resolve many potential problems in a remarriage situation, according to the Times Herald-Record, in “How to preserve your home’s value when remarrying.”

With poor planning, you might end up with your assets going to your second spouse and then, to his or her own children, leaving your own children empty-handed.

A common approach is to leave the surviving spouse the right to use and occupy the residence, with a provision in a trust or a will that the surviving spouse pays taxes and home insurance costs and maintains the house. The right to live in the house can be for a limited number of months or years or until they pass away or enter a care facility. When the surviving spouse dies, or the time limit is reached, he or she leaves the house, the house is sold and the proceeds are divided among the children of the owner’s spouse.

There are other ways to provide more flexibility to the surviving spouse. If the house is too large or expensive to maintain, he or she may be given the right to use and occupy a substituted property, which may be purchased with the proceeds from the owner spouses’ home. Another arrangement allows the owner spouse’s home to be sold with the surviving spouse using the income from the proceeds of the sale of the house to pay for a rental. When the surviving spouse dies (or when the term expires), the children of the first spouse inherit what is left.

A few important things to consider: how well the surviving spouse will be able to maintain the house, either for financial or physical reasons. If the surviving spouse is not taking care of the house and it falls into disrepair, the children may have to file an eviction proceeding. If the trust or will does not specifically instruct the surviving spouse to pay for home maintenance, the children of the owner spouse would be responsible for those costs, and depending on how long the surviving spouse lives, that could be a large burden for a long period of time.

This situation requires thoughtful planning, with many “what if’s” to be asked. An experienced estate planning attorney who has worked with second marriages and home ownership issues, will be able to provide an objective view of the issues and the solutions.

An estate planning attorney can advise you in creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances, including a second marriage.